


Hourglass

by Not From Stars (Shadowcat), random_chick



Category: Primeval
Genre: F/M, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-10
Updated: 2011-07-10
Packaged: 2017-10-21 05:30:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Not%20From%20Stars, https://archiveofourown.org/users/random_chick/pseuds/random_chick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lieutenant Keller Darrow thought that creature incursions and the occasional insane scientist were going to be the worst things he'd need to deal with after he and Abby Maitland fell in love and started dating. However, when Abby is kidnapped by someone from Keller's past, he has to confront things he'd kept hidden from everyone close to him in order to find Abby in time. Meanwhile, in the clutches of vengeful mad man, Abby has to pull on every trick she knows to guarantee her survival. However, when the unthinkable happens, how is Keller going to deal with this while at the same time making sure his past doesn't threaten anyone ever again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

In retrospect, everyone would wonder how it had happened the way did when there were signs leading up to the events of that day for several weeks. Of course, no one put them together as being warning signs when they were happening. That’s how hindsight and retrospect work. Nothing is clear until after something bad happens.

There were the calls placed to his flat that became disconnected as soon as he answered the phone. There was the fact that Rex would start freaking out and flying around the door at odd times of the day and night -- or the fact that he would try to keep Abby from getting near the door sometimes. Finally, there was the off-hand comment she made to Connor about sometimes feeling like someone was watching her or that she was being followed.

These were all signs that would be added up to trouble after the fact.

It happened in the underground parking garage near Keller's flat. Following that day, it would take a long time before any of the girls were allowed to park there alone again.

There was nothing that stood out about that evening that triggered any alarms. Abby was parking her car after work, intending to spend the night with Keller. It had been an incredibly long day, and she was looking forward to spending a night relaxing with her boyfriend. Things had been busy lately and it had been far too long since they had been able to spend much time together outside of work. Their plan was that they'd get some takeaway and curl up together in the living room or the bedroom and just be alone with each other. Maybe they'd turn off the ringers on the telephones, too. They could use a spot of uninterrupted quality time without worrying about anomalies or creatures attacking.

She was only a few feet from her car when something went over her head, blocking out her sight and the overhead lights. She felt an arm go around her throat, and then someone was attempt to drag her backwards. Abby wasn't going allow herself to become someone's mugging victim, so she started to fight with everything she had. She kicked back against the person holding her and when the arm around her throat loosened, she let out a piercing scream. It was the type of scream that would alert anyone that heard it to the fact that there was trouble.

From behind her there was a muffled curse as the arm tightened around her throat again, and then she felt something against her ribs. Before she could scream again, there was a shock of pain and every muscle in her body locked up even as she wanted to struggle. The bag around her head tightened and she fought to draw a deeper breath. She felt the burst of pain against her ribs again and it felt like her lungs were on fire. As her chest filled with pain, Abby felt herself falling and then she wasn't aware of anything at all.

 

He should have expected her to fight back. He had been observing her long enough to know that she wasn't the type of woman who would just go quietly. However, he had thought his arm was tight enough around her throat to keep her from struggling or making a sound. It would be the last mistake he made with her. After he tasered her, he had pulled the bag tightly against her face until he felt her go limp. When she fell, he checked her breathing. It wouldn't do him any good if he had killed her already. That would take the fun out of the game, after all. He looked around and then lifted her up into his arms. He walked a short distance away to where his car was parked and set her down in the trunk. He was quick as he bound up her legs and pulled her arms behind her back to bind those as well. Once he was sure she couldn't get loose without help, he put the gag and blindfold in place. Taking a knife from his pocket, he sliced it through a piece of her hair and then shut the trunk, locking his captive inside. He returned to where he had grabbed her and pulled the mini-recorder from another jacket pocket. He carefully wrapped the strand of blond hair around the cassette and placed it on the hood of the automobile she had been driving.

It was time for the game to begin.

 

Keller was in a cheerful mood, just this side of bouncy, as he parked his car next to Abby's in the garage. She'd managed to beat him home -- and wasn't it strange how his flat already seemed like their home and not just his? -- which he was pretty sure meant she had dinner ready. Which really just meant she had the takeaway menus narrowed down to their two favorite places and was busily pouring over both in an attempt at deciding what she wanted.

It wasn't until he was out of the car and closer to Abby's that he noticed something on the hood. Curious, he moved towards the car, reaching out to pick up the object.

A cassette and a strand of hair. What the...

He was racing up to his flat at that, running towards the bedroom without even shutting the front door, yanking open the closet door and rummaging through things until he found the cassette player. He put the cassette in with shaky hands and managed to hit play.

Abby screaming, a noise he couldn't quite identify, that same noise again, a yell, and then a thud.

The thud, he could identify. He knew the sound of a body hitting the ground.

And then that noise, the one he couldn't quite identify, clicked in his head. It clicked in his head and then he was wondering why someone had tasered...

Oh God. They'd tasered Abby. Whoever they were, they'd tasered his Abby. They'd hurt his Abby, if that thud was anything to judge by.

He stared at the cassette player in shock for a few moments, his brain feeling oddly numb. He had to do something about this, but what did he do? Who did he tell?

He had to snap out of it if he was going to be any use.

 

When Becker got the call, it didn't take him long to gather up what he considered to be the troops. Keller's voice had sounded flat on the phone and it was enough to alert his Captain that something was seriously wrong. Keller usually had one of the most animated voices Becker had ever heard. He hung up with his Lieutenant and made a few calls of his own.

"Keller needs us. I’m pretty sure that it's bad." Becker didn't believe in using more words than he needed to in order to explain a situation. "I'm on my way to pick you up."

Half an hour after the first phone call from Keller, Becker's truck pulled up in the parking garage. He noticed both Keller's and Abby's vehicles as he got out. Keller hadn't mentioned Abby being...

Oh fuck.

Whatever had had happened must have something to do with Abby. That would explain the tone of Keller's voice on the phone. Whatever this was, it was going to go very badly. Becker could sense that already – and he didn’t need to be Special Forces to figure that out.

Two minutes later, Becker was leaning against the wall in the flat while Connor, Sarah and Jenny were sitting on a couch across from Keller. Danny was standing by a window -- looking out every few moments.

"Keller," Becker finally said, watching him turn a microcassette recorder over and over again in his hands as he stared at it. "You called us. The team's all here. Now tell me, what is going on?"

Keller looked up at Becker, taking a moment to respond. "I found a cassette on the hood of Abby's car," he said, his voice still flat, numb. "Wrapped with a strand of hair. Her hair. I played the cassette and..." His voice cracked. "It's bad."

Danny extended his hand in Keller's direction. "Let me see it, mate." If something had happened to Abby then there was no telling how long it was until Keller completely snapped. All of them knew that Abby was his world.

Keller hesitated only a moment before passing the recorder to Danny. He kept the strand of hair in his own hand, though.

Danny started to go into another room to play the tape, but the hard eyes of Jenny stopped him. If something had happened to hurt Abby, the rest of their team had a right to know, too. He sighed and looked at Keller. "Do you want to go in another room while we play this? I imagine hearing it once was bad enough for you."

Keller just shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.

Danny nodded and then hit play on the recorder, sitting it down on the table between them. Keller sat there, sheer terror crossing his face once more as the recording played for his friends. When the tape was over, Danny carefully pushed the stop button before he threw it as far as he could. No one had made a sound when the tape was played and he stepped away from the table. He took a breath to steady his emotions before he looked at Keller.

"And there was no message besides that tape and her hair?" Danny asked, his voice going coldly professional. Hearing Abby scream like that had fired up every protective instict he owned. She wasn't just frightened, she was in pain.

"No," Keller said with a quick shake of his head. "None."

Becker crossed his arms as he watched Danny. It was Jenny who spoke first.

"Were there any signs of a struggle near her car? Anything that would give us a clue as to who would do this?" The idea that someone would hurt Abby was something that was difficult for her to conceive.

"Nothing," Keller said, shaking his head again. "Then again, I didn't look closely. I saw the cassette and I just... I had a really, really bad feeling about it. I was more focused on getting inside so I could play it."

“Someone knew you would have the player then,” Danny stated. “Why else would they make a recording of what they did instead of sending you a note and photographs? Or send it to you in an e-mail?”

“E-mail is too easily traced,” Connor said in a voice that he didn’t recognize at first as being his. “He assumed you’d still have out of date equipment – or maybe it’s just what he prefers to use and knew you’d find a way to play it as soon as you recognized it was Abby’s hair wrapped around it.”

Sarah got to her feet and Connor did, too. Connor's face had gone pale and Sarah's eyes were darker than usual, but they were going to do something to help before they could think too much about what was happening to their friend.

"Connor and I will go check her car," Sarah said quietly. They started for the door right as Keller's house phone started ringing.

They all looked at each other and then Danny nodded at Keller. “Do your best to find out what the hell he wants.”

There was no doubt in any of their minds that it was the kidnapper calling to make sure Keller had found the cassette and to make his demands.

Keller stood and went to answer it. "Hello?"

The voice on the other end was distorted. "Did you receive my present, Lieutenant?"

"You better not have hurt her," Keller said, his voice shifting from numb to fierce in an instant.

"Threats, Lieutenant? That's not very smart when I hold your precious girlfriend's life in my hands. She would like to say hello." There was a strange sound on the other end of the phone and then Abby's piercing scream came through the phone line. It was loud enough that everyone else in the room heard it and they froze. "Now, I assume I have your complete attention, Lieutenant?"

"What do you want?"

"Oh, I could make a list of things I want right now. Let's begin with the fact that I want to destroy your world. That's a nice place to start. It's something you should find close to your heart, after all."

"What do you mean?" Keller asked. "I don't understand. Who are you?"

"I'm the one that's going to take away everything you love, Lieutenant Darrow. I'm going to start with little Abby here. My, you certainly do like them feisty, don't you? Well, she was feisty. Now she's a little... less feisty. I wish I could say that I wasn't a bit disappointed in her staying power."

"What did you do to her?" Keller was trying to stay calm, trying not to say anything that'd set the mystery person off, but it was difficult. "I want to talk to her."

"Sorry, but that won't be happening for at least a good hour or two. I really did think she'd hold out longer." The voice at the other end of the phone sounded annoyed. "I am a bit disappointed by how quickly she lost consciousness. I assumed that she would be a little stronger, a little more resilient. The electrodes weren't really that powerful, after all."

Keller's free hand clenched into a fist. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

"Because I can."

"Why me? What did I do to you?"

"You ruined everything I had ever worked for, Lieutenant Darrow, you and your holier than thou bullshit." The voice sighed. "Things would have turned out so differently if you hadn't stuck your nose in my business. I should have received a commendation and a higher assignment, but then you had to steal all of that away from me."

"I... what?"

"I don't like repeating myself. Here's what's going to happen. You and I are going to play a little game, Lieutenant. Oh, and you can get your little friends to help you. You will need all of the help you can get. We can consider this to be just like a game of chess, only it will be me against you and your team." There was a pause and then the voice continued. “For each time you screw up or you get the answer wrong, you're going to get a piece of your girlfriend in the post. Are we clear on this?"

"We're clear," Keller said, clenching his hand tighter. "What's next?"

"You'll know when you see it," the voice on the other end said calmly. "If I were you, Darrow, I'd keep this between us... and your five little guests."

Keller looked over to the window at that.

Danny lifted an eyebrow at him and went over to look out the window to see if he could spot anything suspicious.

"Do tell Constable Quinn that he's not going to see anything, Darrow. See, just like always, I'm smarter than you and I always will be. I'll be in touch. Oh, and Lieutenant Darrow, do remember that I'm the one in charge now. If you or your friends do something I don't like, your little pixie-dragon will arrive at your flat in several little pieces all at once. Again, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Keller said, his voice terrified but steady. "Perfectly clear."

"And to make sure you know how serious I am, you might want to have one of your friends retrieve the box that's sitting on the front seat of your truck. It wouldn’t do for the wrong person to discover your first clue and end any chance your little Abby has at life before the game truly begins, after all. I'll be in touch."

Keller hung up and looked at the others. "Whoever this is, they're serious. They're also playing a game with Abby's life," he said. "I need one of you to go down to my truck. There's apparently a box in the front seat. I'm not sure where I dropped my keys."

“We won’t need keys.”

Sarah was already out the door and Connor was with her. The rest of the group were silent as they waited for them to return. When they did return, Connor's mouth was tight and Sarah's eyes were full of worry. She was holding a box, and there wasn't a lid on it.

"Danny..." Sarah set the box on the table and Danny was at her side instantly.

Danny shook his head after he looked inside, reaching to take the box. "You don't want to see this Keller. None of you do."

"I have to," Keller said stubbornly. "Keeping any of this from me could get her killed."

Becker stepped up to Keller's side. "He's right. We can't take any chances, Danny, not when it's Abby's life in the balance."

Danny sighed and tilted the box to show the rest of them what Sarah and Connor had already seen. It contained the ragged remains of the shirt that Abby had been wearing earlier, and they were dark with what Danny had already identified as blood.

"Oh God, no..." Keller whispered. “Abby…”

Becker's eyes were hard as he looked at the shirt, but his hand on Keller's shoulder was gentle. "We're going to find her, Kell."

"We have to," Keller said. "We have to. I can't lose her, Becker. I just can't."

"You won't. I promise."

“He’s right.” Jenny nodded in agreement, her hands shaking only slightly as she grabbed the box. "We have to call Lester and report this to him. He needs to know about what's happening." She certainly wasn’t going to be the one to try to keep any details from their supervisor.

Keller nodded slightly. "Will you make that call? I don't think I can."

"Of course I will," Jenny said gently. "We all heard what was said. Lester will make sure we have anything we need and that no one will ask questions." Lester had become more ruthless in dealing with those outside the ARC since Cutter’s murder, but he was still a master at keeping anything from becoming public that he didn’t wish to. It was who he was, after all.

No one needed to say it as they all knew that Lester considered his team family and Abby had always been like a daughter to him. He would do whatever Keller needed him to do in order to catch the bastard that had taken her -- and dispose of them. Of course, he'd never admit to knowing about said disposal.

"Thank you." Keller tried to smile at Jenny, who'd always been so decent to him, and couldn't.

While Jenny went to call Lester, Sarah looked around the room. "I need a pen and paper, Keller." Her mind was already racing as she slipped into investigation mode.

Keller had to think for a second before rummaging through a drawer to come up with a pad and a pen, both of which he handed to her.

She hugged him gently and then took the offered tools. "We will get her back and kill the bastard who is doing this," she assured him. "Messing with you is messing with family."

"Thank you," Keller said, managing a slight, sad smile at those words. He'd worried for a while that he was only family because he was dating Abby. It was a pity that this was what it took to tell him otherwise.

She sat down at the table and started writing hurriedly. "Ok, first. This person seems to know a great deal about you and we have to assume that he hasn't gotten all of his information from --" She swallowed hard. "-- torturing Abby."

"Fair assumption," Keller said. "Whoever this is, they said I ruined everything they ever worked for, so... it's someone I know, or at least used to know."

Becker frowned thoughtfully. "If they say you ruined them... it'd almost have to be something shady they were doing," he said after a moment of thoughtful consideration.

"Of course it would be," Connor said, pacing. "Kell may be a loose cannon at times, but he won't hold for someone doing anything shady that might hurt innocents."

Connor had a point. Besides, they knew each other well enough by now to know all of them here would resort to shady in order to protect each other. There were no rules when it came to taking care of their team and family.

"Exactly," Keller said with a nod. "So... now what do we do? Go back over my service record, I guess. Go back over it and look for anybody I reported or brought down, and see what it was for."

"Are you sure it would be just from your service years? It could be someone completely unrelated to any of that." Danny asked. "Was there any trouble you had before you went in? Someone from before that who may have had some kind of grudge against you?"

"No." Becker's voice was firm on that. "Keller and I have been friends from the beginning of my service career. There was nothing before he enlisted that could be use as ammunition for someone torturing Abby. His record was spotless." He had also helped to double check everything out on him again for the ARC assignment. He knew what was and was not in Keller’s history.

Even so, Keller stopped to think a moment before shaking his head. "Becker's right. There's nothing."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lieutenant Keller Darrow thought that creature incursions and the occasional insane scientist were going to be the worst things he'd need to deal with after he and Abby Maitland fell in love and started dating. However, when Abby is kidnapped by someone from Keller's past, he has to confront things he'd kept hidden from everyone close to him in order to find Abby in time. Meanwhile, in the clutches of vengeful mad man, Abby has to pull on every trick she knows to guarantee her survival. However, when the unthinkable happens, how is Keller going to deal with this while at the same time making sure his past doesn't threaten anyone ever again?

Jenny came back in the room and her eyes were hard. "Lester says whatever we need, we have. He also says he wants a security detail nearby, especially on Sarah and I. Apparently, we're the most likely targets because we look like easy prey." Jenny's first reaction had been that anyone who ever made the mistake of assuming she or Sarah were easy prey would find out how wrong they were -- and deserve everything they got. However, she knew for a fact that Abby wouldn't have been easily taken down, and it worried her to think about what had been done to her friend in order to kidnap her.

"I'm not going to argue," Keller said. "But I want their involvement minimal. He -- because it has to be a he, I just know it -- said you guys could help me; I don't want to push him by involving anybody else."

"It's Lester, it will of course be minimal. He knows what's needed to keep people from taking a second look at a situation," Jenny assured him. Lester was terrifyingly adept at his job.

Keller just nodded slightly. "I know. I just... I'm terrified of doing something wrong. Because if I screw up, if I get an answer wrong in his little game, he's going to send me a piece of Abby."

"What kind of game are you supposed to be playing with him?" Jenny asked him. "I didn't hear you supplying a lot of details or answering any questions while he had you on the phone. "

"I don't know."

"So, we can assume he's going to start sending you puzzles that you have to deal with in order to get a clue as to who this guy is holed up and where he's got Abby," Danny mused as Sarah wrote everything down.

"That sounds about right," Keller said. "It would fit with everything else, at least."

"We can also assume that this isn't related to the ARC." Connor sounded very sure of that. "If it was, they would have called Lester." That was a call that no one would have wanted to see Lester deal with.

"Also a good assumption."

"Have there been any strangers hanging around this area lately?" Danny asked. "Has there been anything out of the ordinary that you’ve noticed or that Abby may have mentioned?"

"Well..." Keller thought for a second. "There've been a lot of strange phone calls, lately."

"Strange how?"

"They hang up when I answer."

"Did Abby ever answer the phone?" Sarah asked as her pen flew across the paper in front of her.

He had to think about it. "Couple times, maybe. Told her to treat this like it was her place, so she probably answered my phone half a dozen times."

"Abby said a few times that she felt like someone was watching her or that she was being followed," Connor said quietly. "When I told her she should tell Becker or Keller, she said it was probably just because of the menagerie or the anomalies. She didn't think it was anything to worry the team about." There was regret in his voice. "I should have said something even if she wouldn't do it. After everything that happened with Stephen and with Cutter, I shouldn’t have let her dismiss her instincts so easily."

"He was watching us," Keller said, realizing. "He was learning our schedules, learning everything he could about us."

"So, whoever this bastard is, he's been planning this for awhile, then," Danny said, looking over at Becker who had remained silent as he stood near Keller.

"He's been to our flat, too, I think," Connor said quietly. "There's been times where Rex started freaking out and he wouldn't let Abby even go near the door until he calmed down. We thought it was strange behavior for him, but Abby reasoned that maybe he was being territorial because it was a mating urge or something."

"Oh, God..." Keller was trying to keep it together. "We've got to figure out who this guy is."

Becker put his hand on Keller's shoulder, trying to calm his Lieutenant down. "We will. We'll find him and we'll make him regret ever laying a hand on Abby or fucking with you."

"We're going to find him and once Abby's safe, I am going to kill him," Keller said. No one argued with that statement, and it wouldn't have done any good if they had. "But not until Abby's safe," he promised.

Danny nodded. "We'll get Abby back... and then we'll do some creature hunting -- or creature feeding."

There were reasons Keller and Danny got along so well, after all. One of those reasons was in the way they both dealt with threats to their people. Neither one of them allowed the same threat to happen twice – real or implied. They didn’t give warnings to the people who hurt one of their own.

Sarah continued writing on the paper. "Keller, are there any people in your past who stand out as capable of being this vindictive and sick?"

"I've got a list," Keller said. "It's a short one. Only two or three people." He went over to the file cabinet by his desk, opened it, and dug through for a moment before pulling out a thin file.

"You keep everything on file?" Connor asked in awe. “And manage to keep it all organized?”

"Just about, yeah."

"That's impressive," Connor said.

"There are times when being obsessive about keeping track of everything that happens can be a good thing. Hopefully this will come in handy for our situation," Jenny said as she sat next to Sarah.

"Hopefully," Keller echoed, passing the file to Sarah.

"Can you give us a rundown of any of these that might have reason to hurt you or kill Abby?" Jenny questioned. She winced inwardly at the idea of someone killing Abby.

"Uh." Keller frowned, forcing himself to settle down and think. "There's... three people on that list, right?"

Sarah flipped it open and looked at the first page. "Yes, three. All of them are men."

"Colin Andrews would hurt me, but I don't think he'd hurt Abby. He was sneaky, not psychotic like this," Keller said. "Next guy is Lucas Bryant... he's a solid possibility. He and a couple of the other guys were running a scam I busted... Becker, you probably remember him."

Becker's jaw tightened and he nodded. "But would he really hurt Abby? He was psychotic when it came to women being hurt."

"It's either him or the guy behind door number three," Keller said. "Michael Wingate. Didn't know him that well, but again, busted him for something he was trying to run."

"I hate to say this, because I could never stand the guy, but I think we can count Bryant out.” Becker sighed. “He doesn't deal well with women being manhandled. He wouldn't go for torturing a woman -- especially someone who looks like Abby. He's an asshole, and he hates you, but you remember what happened to that bloke that tugged an unwilling girl into his lap in front of Bryant at that pub?"

"I remember it involved a broken nose," Keller said. "So... Andrews or Wingate, then. But Andrews isn't the kind of guy who'd do this... okay, maybe he'd play games with me, but they wouldn't involve someone else. He had a problem with you, he took care of it alone. So... Wingate, then."

"But why would this guy resort to hurting Abby," Danny questioned as he watched Sarah take notes.

"He said I ruined everything he'd worked for," Keller said. "So I'm thinking that what I busted him for went deeper than I knew."

It was Connor who looked carefully at Keller. "Mate, what exactly did you do in the service that led to you busting so many people and making so many enemies you have to keep files of them?"

"Did a stint as the military version of Internal Affairs, which was a joke they quickly realized since I was more of a loose cannon than half the guys I took down, only minus the actual law-breaking."

Danny snorted. He apparently understood that situation all too well.

"So I moved on from that, but I obviously made my share of enemies."

"And you think one of them has Abby." Danny stated quietly.

"It's the only thing I can think of."

"I know you said these were the only three that might hold this kind of a grudge against you," Jenny said in an even voice. "But we have to be aware that it could be others from your past that want to strike out at you. Whoever he is, he's obviously been watching you for awhile and knows that you'll snap completely if anything happens to Abby."

"But at least this gives us somewhere to start."

"Yes it does and we can start making profiles of them. However, the fact of the matter is that any of these three could be innocent and someone you may have dismissed in your mind has made the running leap from minor annoyance to raging psychotic.” Jenny got to her feet and leveled a look at Keller. “Abby is being tortured, Keller, and we can't pretend we don't know that. I need a list of names to do background checks. Everyone that is outside of this room and has a connection of any kind to you is a potential criminal. We cannot afford to leave any of them out – no matter what you might think at first. The moment that Abby was taken, everyone in your past or present affixed a target to themselves in my mind and until I say differently they remain a suspect. In the past, we’ve dismissed the wrong people as threats and people we cared about died. That will not happen again.”

"I don't exactly keep a list of everybody I know," Keller protested. "But if I had some idea where to start, it'd be easier to put one together."

"Then get me a file of anyone you had dealings with while you were with Internal Affairs,” she snapped. “It will help us fill in what gaps there might be."

"Now that I can do," Keller said, going through the file cabinet again for a moment before coming up with a thicker file.

Jenny took the file without looking at it and handed it to Connor. "Connor, you and Sarah go through these and make me a list. Once you've done that, Danny will use his connections as a constable -- providing he hasn't burned all of those bridges -- to see if these guys have gone through our legal system. Connor and Sarah will run computer checks to make timelines of each person’s activity since they've come into contact with Keller. I don’t care how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other. Everyone outside of the ARC gets checked out if they’ve ever seen or spoken with Keller.” Jenny’s coldly efficient voice belied the fear she was feeling inside.

Keller was suddenly grateful for his compulsive need to keep files on things. It was one of the first times in his life it'd come in handy, and certainly the first time it'd ever come in this handy.

"Becker, your job is to stay with Keller at all times," Jenny continued. "This man has Abby and he has already shown us that he is unhinged. We don't want to take the chance that he'll try to grab Keller to be the star in some snuff film scene where he's forced to watch Abby die in front of him because he suddenly decides that it’s a better revenge than sending us bloody pieces of clothing!"

Keller paled at the thought but forced himself to nod. "Good thinking."

"No one messes with my damn family," Jenny growled angrily as she considered what else could be done right now.

In other circumstances, Keller would've smiled at being included in Jenny's family -- he was still new enough to it to still like hearing it. But there was no room or reason for smiling at the moment.

"We will get her back and make the bastard pay," Danny said as he looked out of the window and onto the street again.

"Damn right we will," Keller echoed.

"I'm not caring about legalities in this case," Danny warned them all.

"Good, because I'm not, either," Keller said.

"I don't think any of us are," Becker said. "We want Abby back and we want her back safe, and we'll do what we have to. We protect our own."

“As far as I’m concerned, this bastard gave up the right to exist as soon as he made Abby scream like that and then sent us her bloody shirt.” Danny didn’t look away from the window as he spoke.

Jenny nodded, even if she didn't say anything. She didn't need to know all the details of what her people did, after all.

Keller felt helpless and he hated that, but the fact was that there was nothing he could do except play this guy's game and hope to God he didn't screw up while everybody else was doing what they were going to do.

Sarah looked up from her notes. "Keller, we're going to get her back alive. I promise you that."

"We have to," he said. "I don't know what I'll do if we don't."

"We will." Sarah's voice was harder than anyone had heard it before.

Keller just nodded.

"Danny," Jenny said. "Do you think you can run background checks on this list?"

"Of course I can."

Keller leaned back against the file cabinet. He still felt helpless to help Abby, but at least he had people who were helping him. He was grateful for them, for all of them.

"Keller, you and Becker are responsible for keeping records of any communication you get from this man." Jenny said crisply.

Something for him to do. Good. Having something to do made him feel a little less helpless. He'd take whatever he could. "Got it," he said with a sharp nod.

"The more we know from him, the more pieces we have to put together and track him down. Obviously he’s been either in this flat or in Abby and Connor’s because he called Abby by something I know I’ve never heard you call her at work.”

Silence met Jenny’s words as Danny turned from the window. None of them had picked up on that before, but Jenny obviously had.

"I'll get whatever information out of him I can."

Jenny nodded. "One of us will be here at all times."

"Okay." He nodded slightly.

"Because you will need rest." Jenny pinned him with a look. "You will be no help to Abby if you fall over."

Keller wanted to protest, but he knew she was right. He had to stay strong for Abby, and that included something at least vaguely approaching proper rest.

Jenny gave him a sympathetic look. "You can't hunt this guy and get Abby back if you don't get rest. You and Becker can't tear the guy limb from limb after you skin him alive if you guys haven't slept at least some." It was almost scary how calmly Jenny was passing sentence on this faceless kidnapper. It might've been scarier if they all didn't know Jenny's fierce devotion to the team.

"When you put it that way... I'll try to sleep." It was the best she'd get out of him at the moment.

She nodded decisively and looked at Becker. "You, too, Becker. Don't make me have to start drugging you both." The look in her eyes left no doubts that she would should them with tranquilizer guns if she thought she needed to.

"We'll rest," Becker promised. "The both of us." Notice he hadn't said they'd sleep. Becker wasn’t sure either of them could sleep right now. This resembled a combat situation too much for either soldier to relax enough to sleep.

Jenny noticed exactly what he said and didn't say and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Like I said, one of us will be here at all times while Lester has teams being run at the ARC. That means fresh eyes and fresh guns."

Keller nodded, not sure what to actually say.

"We will be hooking up devices to your phones and recording every --" Jenny's words stopped and her eyes widened slightly as she thought of something. "Keller? Where's Abby's phone? Was her bag still in her car or on the ground next to where the struggle was?"

"I..." He had to think about it. "It wasn't on the ground, but I don't remember if it was still in her car."

"We need to go down and investigate the area around her car, then. We need to know what extra information he has. If he has Abby’s ARC identification or has managed to get her security passwords, then there is no telling what additional damage he could decide to cause.”

Keller nodded again.

Jenny turned to the door, expecting the rest of them to follow her.

"I'm staying here," Keller said. "In case he calls again. I don't want all of us to be outside, just in case."

"Connor, you stay with him, then. Becker, we'll need you and Danny."

Becker gave Keller a sympathetic half-smile before the group split up and everybody else followed Jenny.

Becker fell into step with Jenny once outside the flat.

"You and Danny will be able to tell what kind of struggle there was," she explained.

He nodded. "For Kell's sake, I hope we can take care of this quickly." He had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy, however.

"I hope so, too... but Becker? I don't think it'll be that simple. And... I'm scared for Abby. Really scared."

"Me too, Jen," he said quietly. "Me, too."

She stopped and made him stop with her. After Danny and Sarah were out of hearing range, she looked into his face. "If we don't find him, he will kill her. You know that as well as I do. He's doing this to toy with Keller, but in the end, he'll still kill her."

"So we're going to find her." Becker refused to think otherwise, even though he knew the reality of the situation.

Jenny nodded. "We will and that bastard is going to pay."

"Slowly and painfully," Becker agreed. "Slowly and painfully."

"I'm glad we understand one another," Jenny nodded.

"Don't think it'd be possible to misunderstand each other on this," Becker said with a mirthless smile.

Jenny nodded again. "I will do whatever we need to in order to get her back to us in as few pieces as possible and to keep Keller from going over the edge."

"Keller... has a temper," Becker said. "Not when it comes to using it against people, but when it comes to someone hurting people he cares about. It might not be so easy to keep him from going over the edge."

"We just have to make sure that we can bring him back if that happens, Becker. The last thing Abby would want is for us to lose him, too."

"It's all going to depend on if we can get her back or not," Becker said. "Because if we lose her... he won't care."

"We won't lose either of them." Jenny said firmly. "Somehow."

"Somehow," he agreed as they reached the scene.

At first glance, it didn't look like anything was out of place. It looked like a typical parking structure. Abby's car was sitting where she had parked it.

Becker made a slow lap around Abby's car, looking for anything out of place.

"Danny, Becker," Sarah said in an even voice. "I have blood here."

Becker moved to Sarah's side to take a look. "Damn it."

"She fought," Sarah said quietly. "We shouldn't be surprised. But this means she was at least conscious for a few moments." She swallowed. "And she knew what was happening to her."

"That's our girl," Becker said softly. "You fought, Abby. Good for you."

Beneath the car they found Abby's keys and her jacket.

Becker was silent as he looked at both things. This wasn't good. This really wasn't good.

Danny reached beneath the car and pulled out the jacket and the keys. "He put them there. No way they fell like that."

"Trying to delay us as long as he could, you figure?" Because the keys could've gotten under there, maybe, but definitely not the jacket.

"I'm thinking so. Make us wonder where her things were."

"If her jacket and her keys are there, where's the rest of her things? She'd have had her purse, possibly an overnight bag..."

They looked everywhere. There was no sign of the purse or overnight bag.

Danny met Becker's eyes. "That means she still has her mobile."

"Then it's possible she might try to contact us, if he hasn't managed to get it away from her."

Danny nodded. "It's Abby, of course she'll try something." That was what worried him.

"God, let her stay safe."

Danny nodded in agreement. "We'll have to make sure we work twice as hard to get her back before she does do something that could..." He didn't want to finish that sentence.

"Because it's Abby. She'll do something." Becker said with a groan. "She won't just let him use her to hurt anyone -- especially Keller. She'll make it hard for him."

Danny nodded. "And it might get her killed."

All Becker could do was hope and pray that Abby would think of Keller before doing anything, because if she did something to get herself killed, Keller would never be the same.

 

When they went back upstairs with what they had found, Keller's phone was starting to ring again.

Jenny nodded. "Answer it, Keller, just be careful with what you say."

Keller answered his phone quickly. "Yes?"

"Lieutenant Darrow. And how are we feeling?"

"Scared as hell."

"Good. I'm glad." There was a pause. "Would you like to hear something from Abby?"

"God, yes." Keller couldn't keep the hope out of his voice.

"Oh good, because she would like to say hello."

He could hear someone else breathing as the phone moved, and then he heard a blood-curdling scream. It was obviously Abby and it was also obvious that she hadn't been expecting whatever had happened to cause her to scream like that.

"Just thought you might want something to remember from Abby tonight before you sleep." The phone went dead.

Keller just stared at the phone for a moment. He didn't realize it until the tears hit his hand, but he'd started crying.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lieutenant Keller Darrow thought that creature incursions and the occasional insane scientist were going to be the worst things he'd need to deal with after he and Abby Maitland fell in love and started dating. However, when Abby is kidnapped by someone from Keller's past, he has to confront things he'd kept hidden from everyone close to him in order to find Abby in time. Meanwhile, in the clutches of vengeful mad man, Abby has to pull on every trick she knows to guarantee her survival. However, when the unthinkable happens, how is Keller going to deal with this while at the same time making sure his past doesn't threaten anyone ever again?

Abby hadn't had a good night. When she woke up, she was tied to a recliner of some kind. Her legs were chained down to the leg rest and her arms were so far still handcuffed in front of her. She was wearing a blindfold, but it wasn't that thick because she could still make out some shapes moving around wherever she was being held. The most annoying thing right now was the gag that was tied around her mouth.

She heard her kidnapper talking to someone and when she heard Keller's name, she tried to do something to make him hear her. Unfortunately, the kidnapper also wanted Keller to hear her. He loosened the gag and stood next to her. She knew there was something wrong with this set up. It didn't feel like it was at all a good thing.

"She would like to say hello." Before she could say anything, a knife came down, stabbing into her thigh and she screamed shrilly from the unexpected pain. The scream dropped down into a sobbing, choking sound as she tried to move her hands in their restraints in order to get the knife out of her thigh and get the bleeding to stop. She didn't hear what else was said, but suddenly there was something cold against the back of her neck. She felt the shock of the taser and then she was unconscious.

When she opened her eyes again, she was aware of having so much pain in her leg. She didn't take too long to remember what had happened. She tried to check out her leg, but she couldn't examine it with a blindfold. She ran her hands along her leg and her hands came back bloody. This wasn't good. She shifted in the chair and her eyes widened. There was something in her trousers pocket, and was pretty sure what it was. She stopped moving, waiting until everything was quiet and listened to things around her. Her kidnapper wasn't in the room or wherever she was being kept. That gave her some time to try and get a message to her friends.

She continued to shift, bringing the object in her pocket -- this was hard to do with bound hands and her legs tied down. However, she finally got what it was she wanted and felt her own mobile slip into her hands.

She went still once more, making sure that she didn't hear any extra sounds in the room with her as of yet. She turned as much on her side as she could and opened the mobile. For the thousandth time, she was glad that she had turned the tones for the keys completely off. Trying to keep calm, she ran her fingers over the keypad. This was hard to do with a blindfold, but she had long ago memorized the order of the keys.

She almost sobbed with relief when the phone was answered immediately. "Keller?" Her voice was whisper soft.

"Abby?" Keller's voice was groggy from his having been woken out of a not at all restful sleep. "Oh God, Abby. Talk to me, baby girl. Tell me everything you can."

"He's insane, Keller," she continued whispering."He's really pissed at you. Says you ruined his life and got him discharged for bad conduct towards innocents in a village or something."

That told him exactly who it was. "Has he said anything else?"

"He's going to make you pay in the worst way possible. He's going to take everything from you. He says that I'm the bait and you're his prey. He's going to _hurt_ you." She wasn't afraid for herself, but she was terrified of something happening to Keller.

"No, he's not," Keller said, his voice fierce. "We're going to find you, Abby. I _promise_ you that."

"Kell," she whispered. "No matter what, I love you. Don't let yourself forget that."

"I love you too, baby girl." His voice was shaking with the effort of not falling apart. He needed to stay strong for her.

"No matter what he says to you, Kell, this is not your fault. No matter what he tells you he's doing to me, don't believe that this is your fault. He's doing this. Not you."

"Stay strong," Keller said. "And when this is all over and you're safe again, you and I are going away somewhere for a while. Just the two of us."

"My mobile," she whispered. "Get Connor to track it." She started to say something else, but then she gasped as her hair was used to pull her head back suddenly.

"Bitch, what are you doing? Where did you get that?"

"Keller! Keller, do what I said! Don't let --"

Abby's words turned into a yelp of pain and then there were the sounds of a struggle. Something went crashing away from the phone and the line went dead.

Keller swore loudly and went out to the living room.

Sarah lifted her head from the couch when he came in and Becker turned away from the window he had been watching.

"She just called me," Keller said, his voice numb. "Becker, remember the guy I investigated and got discharged for conduct unbecoming towards the innocents in that village? "

"Daniel Conroy?"

"Yeah. It's him."

"He wasn't in the list of three," Sarah said, reaching for her notes and scanning them quickly.

"This was a man who led his team through there killing everyone they could find before our unit got there and saved who we could," Becker said quietly.

"Yeah." Keller nodded slightly. "He told Abby he was going to ruin my life."

Becker turned to Sarah. "Get everyone here. If it's who Keller thinks it is, Abby is running out of time."

"The phone went dead, but Abby said we need to get Connor to try and track it," Keller said. "Just in case this guy didn't destroy it." Keller was praying for that right then.

 

Connor was arriving at Keller's when he saw a box sitting on top of Abby's car. He knew that it couldn't be anything good, but he also knew that he couldn't avoid it. Swallowing hard, he lifted the box with shaking hands and headed up to the flat.

"Keller," his voice was quiet as he handed over the box. "It was on Abby's car."

Keller was reluctant to open the box but knew he had to. He set it down on the table and opened it carefully, a look of terror crossing his face as he lifted out the contents.

"Oh my god," Sarah breathed as she saw the denim come into view. "Is that --"

The question didn't need to be asked because everyone in the room could see that Keller was holding a pair of trousers -- and could tell that they were blood-stained.

Something in Keller broke a little as he held the trousers in his hands. He quietly set them back down in the box and looked up at the others.

"No," Becker said, shaking his head. "Damn you, Keller, don't you even think that."

"Think what?" Connor asked quietly. "What's he thinking?"

"That he's killed her," Jenny said softly.

"It didn't sound good, Jenny," Keller said. "When she was on the phone with me... it didn't sound good."

"But it was too soon after the call for her to be able to get these to you," Jenny said quietly. "Whatever he did to cause her trousers to be bloody had to have happened earlier, Keller."

"What happened when you were on the phone with her?" Danny's voice was carefully even.

"She got caught with her mobile, she yelled, and then I think he threw her through something."

Connor paled, and Sarah sagged against the wall.

"We have to find this guy," Keller said. "We have to find him _soon_. Because he is one dangerous bastard."

"He wouldn't have killed her this soon," Danny said, trying to believe that. "She's the one thing to make you twist."

"But he would have hurt her happily," Keller said. "And probably wouldn't care if she died on accident."

Danny didn't have a response for that. He cursed a few times and then looked at Keller. "What do you know about this man? Was Abby able to tell you anything about where she was?"

"I know that he didn't hesitate to kill innocents when we were serving together," Keller said. "I know that he knows what he's doing. He'll be inflicting maximum pain with relatively minimum damage." That was the only thing keeping him from truly snapping, that knowledge.

"Unless he wants to cause a lot of damage," Becker inserted.

Danny didn't know what he hated more -- the idea that Abby was dead or the idea that she was being tortured. Both of them pissed him off and had him feeling a well of grief he didn't want to examine. Abby was strong, but even she could only take so much.

"I think someone needs to be downstairs, watching Abby's vehicle at all times," Keller said softly, awkwardly. "Since this guy seems to like leaving his little messages there."

"I will," Danny said. He'd been a constable before working for the ARC, so he knew how to track without being seen. "Better me than anyone else." Jenny started to protest, but Danny looked at her. "Just in case, I can deal with it better than you or Sarah," he pointed out gently. "And Connor is needed to work his computer magic to see if Abby's mobile is still trackable."

"Thank you," Keller said, still quietly and with a slight nod to Danny.

Danny nodded and walked over to talk quietly to Becker and let Keller have time to try to compose himself with Sarah and Jenny. He gestured to the door, asking Becker to walk outside with him. What he had to say he didn't want anyone else to hear.

Becker waited until they were outside before looking at Danny worriedly. "What is it?"

"Tell me honestly, with this guy, what do you really think Abby's chances are now? She's obviously lost a lot of blood. Just by piecing together what Keller has said and what we've seen from this asshole's little presents, Abby's being tortured."

"Not good," Becker said honestly. "If we can find him quickly, then she'll stand a fair chance, but if it takes us more than another day or two... not good."

"That's what I think, too. If we can't find her within that window, then we'll be recovering her body and not rescuing our friend." He looked back towards the flat. "If that happens, he's going to snap, the women are going to break, and Connor..." Danny shook his head. "We have to find that bastard in the next twenty-four hours, Becker. Somehow."

"We know who he is now. We have his name. Means we can start checking into places he'd be most likely to go, family-owned residences he could be hiding out in, things of that nature." Becker's hands clenched helplessly for a second. "If Keller doesn't kill this guy, I'm going to be tempted to do it myself."

"I don't care who does it, but this guy is going to die. No one does this to one of our family."

"I'll start calling this guy's relatives to see what they know. Some of his own relatives can't stand him for what he's done, so if I talk to them I might be able to learn something." Or so Becker hoped, anyway.

"Do that. He's sending Keller pieces in connection to what he's doing to Abby for a reason -- not just to taunt him. It's like it's a puzzle game to this asshole."

"The taunting is just an added bonus for this guy," Becker said. "Because if he wanted to ruin Keller's life, wanted to take everything from him..." He swore. "We need to get some kind of guard arranged for Keller's sister and her kids. This guy's started with Abby, who's to say he won't move on to Kell's family afterwards?" It was a risk he didn't want to take.

"Lester has already taken care of that," Danny said quietly. "It was Jenny who thought of it."

"Thank God for that." Becker sighed. "I'm going to head home, grab my address book, then I'll be back and start making some calls. Go knocking on their damn doors if I have to."

"I like that idea. I'll be down with Abby's car. There are all kinds of places that I can watch without being seen."

Becker nodded once, sharply. "Let's do it, then."

Danny nodded. "He's a dead man and doesn't even know it."

 

Back in the flat, Keller was standing by the window and staring outside without really seeing anything. All he could do was think about the shirt and the tape with Abby's screams and despite what she'd said, he wanted to blame himself. God, did he. Because she wouldn't be being tortured right then if not for his connection to the man hurting her.

"Not your fault," Connor said as he ran his codes through his machines.

Keller looked back at the other man, startled.

"I know what you're thinking," Connor continued running sequences and tapping on the keys without looking up. "This isn't your fault."

"She's in this situation because of me," Keller said. "He wouldn't have taken her if we weren't dating."

"You don't know that. If you hadn't been dating, he could have grabbed any of your family or your friends or even some innocent on the street. He's a psycho, Keller."

"He's doing this to ruin me, Connor. He wouldn't be hurting her if she wasn't the woman I'm in love with."

"And if you think like that, then he's won."

"I know," Keller said quietly. "I just... had to say it. Had to get it out."

"I get that. So don't let it get like that again and we'll focus on what we need to in order to take him down."

Keller nodded before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "Yeah. Okay."

"Besides, she'll kick your arse really thoroughly if she thinks you spent time blaming yourself over the actions of someone obviously barmy."

He couldn't help laughing slightly at that, a little sadly. "She would, wouldn't she?"

"Yes, she would."

"Then I'm going to stop thinking like that, even if it's hard to."

"Good. Because if you're thinking like that, then your brain is not fully into this sick bastard's game and you might overlook something because of it."

"This is a game I'm going to win," Keller said firmly.

"You'd better because I don't want him to even think he's going to win anything with what he's doing."

"Oh, trust me." Keller smiled, and it wasn't a nice one by any means. "He's not going to win."

Connor kept typing on his laptop. "Are you going to make him bleed a lot, Keller? Because he needs to for even touching her."

"I'm not just going to make him bleed," Keller said quietly. "I'm going to make him _die_."

"Good," Connor said with cold satisfaction in his voice.

"He's going to bleed a lot, hurt slowly and painfully, and then he's dead." Keller's voice was matter-of-fact.

"Ok, I think I have a trace on..." Connor's voice trailed off. "Wait. This can't be right."

"What?" Keller looked at him. "What is it?"

Connor had gone a little pale. "Mate, it says Abby's phone is in this building."

That didn't make sense. "Could he be redirecting it somehow?"

"How? It would take a technical genius to be able to do something like that and this guy doesn't seem to fit that kind of profile from what you and Becker have said." He chewed on his lip. "Keller, are there any empty flats in this building that you know of? Or one close by that he could be in to bounce a tracker?"

Keller closed his eyes for a second, mentally walking through it. "This floor, opposite end of the hall, same side of the hallway. Two floors down and two to the left. And then the building behind us, two flats on the top floor and one second."

Connor grabbed his phone and hurriedly dialed a number. "Becker, you and Danny get up here. I've found Abby's signal... but it's coming from this building."

Keller was pacing now, pacing and worrying and planning. When they caught up with this guy, if it was indeed who they thought it was, he was going to kill him. There was no doubt about that. But if it _was_ Daniel Conroy, then he couldn't just rush in. He had to plan this.

Danny's voice was subdued through the phone. "Get Keller down here, Connor. We've... we've found something in his truck."

Connor fought not to go pale and he closed his phone. "We need to get down there, mate. They found something in your truck."

Keller was out the door before Connor could say anything else.

 

The box sitting in the driver's seat of Keller's truck would have probably looked completely innocent to anyone who hadn't been with the team the last few days. Danny and Becker had made the joint decision that they were opening the box before alerting Keller, because they didn't know what might be in there.

It was both not as bad and even worse than they could have imagined.

At first, it was hard to identify just exactly what they were looking at, but it was Becker's face that paled.

"Oh my god, that bastard. That goddamn sick bastard."

Sitting in the box surrounded by light blue tissue paper was a fairly innocuous hourglass. It was silver and about four inches tall. However, instead of sand, there was a thick, dark liquid in it.

"That had better not be..." Becker swallowed hard.

"It is," Danny said quietly, showing him the note that had been in the box.

 _Keller Darrow,_

 _When the last drop of her blood ends up in the bottom of the glass, her time is up -- and so is yours._

Danny's phone rang and he listened to Connor before shaking his head. "Get Keller down here, Connor. We've... we've found something in his truck."

It was only a minute or two before Keller was downstairs with them. "What is it, Danny?"

Becker took a deep breath before nodding at Danny. Danny stepped away from the door of the truck so that Keller could see the hourglass sitting next to the box.

Keller just stared for a second. "What..."

Danny wordlessly handed him the note that they had found with the box.

Keller read it and looked at the others. "Where is she, though? If we don't know that, we can't save her." There was desperation in his voice.

"I don't understand," Connor finally said. "He's not giving us any kind of clue about where he might have her. All he keeps doing is sending us..." Connor swallowed. "Sending us pieces of Abby with nothing about where they are."

"Because he doesn't want Keller to find her before it's too late," Danny said evenly. It was only the look in his eyes that said how tenuous the hold on his temper was. "He's torturing Abby and taunting Keller about it. He knows damn well he isn't sending any clues. He wants Keller to know that he's helpless." He shrugged slightly. "I came across a few blokes like this when I was with the Constables. It's a game to them."

"Abby's life is not a game!" Connor said with a note of hysteria in his voice.

"No, she's not a game, but to a man like this Conroy, Connor, she's not even a person. She's someone to hurt in order to destroy someone else. He's torturing Abby to make Keller twist."

"The blood's going slowly, thank God," Becker said. "Means I _might_ have time to harass a few of his relatives on the phone and find out where he might be."

Connor just stared at the hourglass of Abby's blood. "How could anyone do something like this? It's _Abby_!"

Keller looked away a moment. Did Connor still think he shouldn't be blaming himself? But he couldn't think like that, so he just shook his head and looked back at the hourglass. "Becker, try Conroy's sister. Not Louise, the other one. Tabitha. They parted on pretty bad terms, if I remember right."

Danny was watching Keller. "Keller... you should let me take that to the ARC. You don't need to have that around you."

"I can't do anything to help her, Danny. Least I can do is sit with it while we wait for news."

Something smacked him in the back of the head. That something was Sarah's hand -- and the men hadn't even seen her step to the truck. "Don't you dare say that," she hissed angrily. "You're going to put that brain to use and help us find her. She has to be close. There is no way he could have gotten that... thing... here if they weren't."

He stifled an 'ow' -- certain that would've gotten him flat-out punched -- and frowned. "Becker, hang on. Call Tabitha, ask her if her brother's still got that place on the outskirts of the city."

Sarah wanted to punch someone with as upset as she was right now, but punching Keller wouldn't solve anything. "Abby was still alive at the time that thing was made. She has to be alive still."

Keller chose to edge away from Sarah, and it wasn't a subtle move, either. "It's either his place on the outskirts of town, which has enough privacy, or the flat he had closer in." He frowned again. "Could he have had her in one location and then moved her? It'd explain how he was able to get here to get the signal from Abby's phone here..."

"Maybe he stole her phone," Sarah pointed out. "He stole it and planted it somewhere to confuse us. You did hear a fight when he found her with it."

"And he could've stolen it after he caught her with it." Keller was working through it in his head.

"Because he would have been angry that he missed it." Sarah's voice was calmer than she felt.

"But he'd still have to be reasonably close by to get here and back without too much time going by." Keller swallowed. "Because he doesn't want her to die until he's ready for it."

"He likes to be in control, but I'm betting that Abby ruined that feeling," Danny said quietly. He didn't want to add that it probably put her in more danger.

"So... we don't have much time." Keller turned away from the hourglass.

Danny didn't want to agree with him, but he wasn't going to lie to him, either. He shook his head.

Keller took a deep breath. "Then let's hope Becker gets information out of Conroy's sister."

Jenny took that moment to arrive and her eyes hardened when she was shown the hourglass. "I'm going to kill this bastard."

"Oh, no you don't," Keller said. "That's _mine_ to do." He quirked a mirthless smile. "But I'm not averse to some help."

She looked at him calmly. "I want no trace of him left, Keller. He kidnapped and tortured someone who is like a sister to me. He is sending her to her family in pieces and he needs to pay for that."

"He's torturing the first woman I've been able to see myself marrying someday, Jenny. There won't be enough of Conroy to qualify as a smear on the pavement."

"See that there isn't." There was a fierceness in her eyes. "And make sure of it. You know how James hates paperwork."

"There won't be," he said solemnly. "I promise."

Jenny looked at Connor. "Find her damn signal and get them there."

Connor nodded. "On it."

Jenny spun to face Danny. "You get any contacts you still have and you get his family staked out!"

That was when Becker hung up. "Just talked to Tabitha Conroy. Says her brother's in the process of selling his flat in town, but that he still has the family place on the outskirts."

"Get out there," Jenny bit out.

"Someone take the hourglass, someone else can come with me in my truck," Keller said, feeling oddly better now that they knew at least something.

"Becker, go with him. Danny and Sarah, you come with me."

Becker nodded and held his hand out for Keller's keys. "I'm driving."

"Thank God I thought to grab them," Keller said as he slapped them into Becker's hand. Though in truth, they'd been going everywhere with him because he wanted to be ready when they had to leave.

Jenny headed to her car. "Connor, you stay on your laptop and you keep us informed of that signal."

They got into the respective cars; within seconds, Becker and Keller were leading the others towards the edge of town.

Jenny was quiet until they got to the edge of town and then she looked at Danny. "No matter what, that bastard does not leave that building alive."

"He won't," Danny said. "If Keller doesn't take care of it, I will."

She nodded. "He doesn't deserve to live or have a trial after what he's done."

"No," Danny agreed. "He doesn't."

"I'm glad we agree on this." She watched the men in the truck park and she found a spot a few feet down from them. "Looks like this is it."

Danny nodded. "Looks like it."

When they got out and joined the others, Keller was standing there looking like he wanted to be pacing around.

"Becker, you and Danny are Keller's backup." She looked at Keller. "No arguments. Sarah, you're with me. We'll check out some of these empty places." She held out her hand. "Becker, I'll need your extra gun."

Keller was too focused to argue. He just nodded. "Let's go."

Sarah reached into his truck while they were talking and pulled out the hourglass, which she held sheltered against her. "I'll keep a hold of this, just in case."

Keller nodded slightly. "Thank you." He took a breath before looking to the guys. "Let's go. We want over here," he said, pointing.

Danny nodded and followed Keller and Becker while the girls went in the opposite direction.

"Keller," Danny said softly. "There's not much left in the top part of the hourglass."

"You don't need to remind me," Keller said quietly. "Okay, here we go." They approached the building carefully.

Jenny watched the men disappear and then looked at Sarah. "How much time?"

Sarah shook her head, showing Jenny the hourglass. "Not much. It's just a really thin line, now." She swallowed. "She's out of time, Jen."

"I know."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lieutenant Keller Darrow thought that creature incursions and the occasional insane scientist were going to be the worst things he'd need to deal with after he and Abby Maitland fell in love and started dating. However, when Abby is kidnapped by someone from Keller's past, he has to confront things he'd kept hidden from everyone close to him in order to find Abby in time. Meanwhile, in the clutches of vengeful mad man, Abby has to pull on every trick she knows to guarantee her survival. However, when the unthinkable happens, how is Keller going to deal with this while at the same time making sure his past doesn't threaten anyone ever again?

Keller had to force himself to stay calm as they got into the building.

The building was quiet as the men approached and Becker nodded at the door that led into the flat that their target -- and Abby -- were supposed to be holed up. Danny and Becker both slid their guns into place and then looked at Keller.

Keller took a deep breath before reaching for the door.

It was open.

"Looks like we're expected."

The entranceway was quiet and it led into a living room where there were sounds of weak sobbing drifting through the house. Everything else seemed unnaturally still.

Keller swore under his breath at the sobbing.

The kidnapper was definitely a dead man walking and didn't even know it, in Danny's eyes. He crept forward slowly, being careful not to give their presence away.

Keller was holding his breath as they reached the living room.

The living room was empty except for a small laptop on top of the TV. The sound of sobbing was from a video feed of Abby. She didn't look good at all. She was white-faced and it looked like she was in quite a bit of pain and covered in blood. The video showed her tied down to a wooden flat of some kind.

As they stepped into the living room, a phone started ringing. The ring tone was distinct -- it was Abby's phone, and it was sitting on the coffee table.

Keller snatched the phone up and answered it. "You still have a chance to stop this, Conroy."

"Oh, so you were able to put that bit of the puzzle together, were you?"

"Since we tracked you to this place, yes." Keller took a breath. "Let her go, Conroy. You still have a chance to make this right."

"Oh, everything is right like I want it to be, Keller. I did tell you I was going to destroy you." The voice hardened. "It's not my fault it took you so long to figure out who had taken your precious girl."

On the video, Abby's sobs turned to a frightened sound and there was now a shadow on the screen with her. A shadow who was moving a very wicked looking knife along her face.

"No," Keller said, his voice a whisper. "Oh God, no."

"She's very pretty when she cries, isn't she, Keller?" The man's voice deepened. "After I got a look at her out of her clothes, I could see what you saw in her."

Danny made a growling noise in his throat, hoping that this man wasn't inferring what he thought he was.

"Oh, I didn't have sex with her, Keller. You can tell your ginger-headed friend that, because I know he thinks I did. I would never take something you had already ruined. Her mouth though, well, that was an entirely different experience."

"Kell, I'm sorry," Abby whispered on the video. "I'm sorry. I tried."

The flat of the knife pressed against her cheek with the point near her eye.

"Now Abby, we both know you've enjoyed everything I did to you. Don't lie to the man. He deserves nothing but the truth."

On the video, Abby spat at him, and Conroy responded by backhanding her.

"I'm going to kill you, Conroy," Keller said, his voice low and flat. "I'm going to find you and I'm going to fucking kill you for everything you've done to her."

The voice on the phone laughed and the shadow on the video moved away from Abby's face.

"You have to find me, first, and you're not so good at that, as we've proven."

He had barely finished those words when Becker's phone started ringing. The man on the phone laughed and something happened off screen to cause Abby to start screaming on the video.

Becker opened his phone and he heard Sarah's frightened voice. "It's empty, Becker!"

"Time's up," the man on the phone said.

On the video, the shadow raised the knife over Abby's chest and then brought it down viciously. Abby's screams were suddenly cut off and she made a strange sound that none of the men ever would forget. The video panned to to do a close-up on the blood-covered knife and then panned to do a close-up on Abby's face as her eyes slowly closed.

"Checkmate, Keller," Conroy said as the phone in Keller's hand went dead. The camera pulled back to show Abby's entire body and then the screen went black.

Keller let out a scream of rage and fear as the screen went black. "Goddamn it, no!" That was _not_ how it was going to end for Abby, goddamnit.

The other two men in the room were shaken by what they had just seen. Becker stepped forward to close the laptop, breaking Keller's gaze from the now black screen.

Danny shook his head slowly. He couldn't believe that they just watched their friend be murdered on a damn video. He was never going to forget the sound of Abby's screams -- or how they suddenly ended.

"We need to search every inch of this place," he finally managed to say. "We have to find anything we can to get to that bastard and kill him."

They also needed to recover Abby's body, but he just couldn't say that out loud right now. It was too much for _him_ to deal with, so he could only imagine what it was doing to Keller right now.

Keller had gone pale. "I am going to slaughter that man."

Danny nodded. "I know, mate, but to do that, we have to find him." He fixed Keller with a look. "He'll pay for what he's done, I promise you that. However, first we have to find him... and let the rest of the team know."

"I think they have an idea," Becker said quietly. "At least the girls do. Sarah called when the top half of the hourglass was empty."

"What'd she say?" Keller asked, turning to Becker.

"Just that it was empty," Becker said quietly.

"We can't just let her be wherever she is," Keller said. "We have to recover her body. We _have_ to. If she's really dead, I have to be able to bury her like she deserves."

He didn't want to think she was dead, but how could he deny what he'd seen?

"We'll find her and give her the proper rites, mate," Danny promised. "But first, we have to find _him_. If we don't find this bastard and take him out, then we'll never find Abby's body to bring home."

"So, let's find the damn bastard." Keller's voice was quiet, subdued.

The subdued nature of Keller's tone worried Danny. "Keller."

"Kell, don't you dare shut down on us, not right now." Becker said fiercely.

"I'm not," Keller said. "I'm compartmentalizing so I can handle it."

The other two men nodded. They had done the same things. "Kell, did anything in the video look familiar? Like the furniture or the walls?"

Danny took the laptop from Becker. "We'll show this to Connor. He might be able to figure out where the video loop was coming from."

"The furniture looked familiar, but I can't place it," Keller said, frustrated.

"We'll figure this out, Keller," Becker assured him. "We will."

"We have to." Keller smiled sadly. "I owe her that much. I couldn't find her in time, I can at least find her killer."

"And you will and you'll make him pay."

Keller nodded grimly. "I will."

"Then let's find him."

Keller raked his fingers through his hair, took a breath, nodded again. "Let's spread out and start searching the place, then."

Becker kept his sidearm at the ready as they started searching the rest of the building. Danny ducked out of the flat to expand their search.

Keller was doing his best not to retreat inward, but there was no mistaking his silence as he searched with Becker, who hadn't left his side.

The sound of gunshots pulled them from their search.

"That's Danny's gun!" Becker yelled.

Keller swore under his breath and took off towards the direction the shots had come from.

They took two flights of stairs up to the roof and spotted Danny tackle someone down to the ground. Danny's fist flew, pounding into the man's face.

"Danny!" Keller yelled, skidding to a stop.

"He killed Abby! I recognized his voice when I found him in the stairwell!"

Keller stared at the man under Danny. "That's Conroy," he confirmed. "Get off him, Danny."

"HE KILLED ABBY!"

"And _I'm_ going to make him pay for that." He smiled slowly. "Oh, believe me. I'm going to make him pay."

Danny growled, but he back away, but not before firing a shot through the other man's leg so that he couldn't get away.

Keller smiled at that and approached Conroy slowly. "Hello, Daniel."

The bleeding man on the ground spit at him. "I see you must have gotten your presents," the other man said conversationally. "Tasty little bitch, that one was."

That would be Keller kicking Conroy sharply in the ribs. "I did," he said, just as conversationally.

"Pity for her that you ran out of time. I would have loved to play with her more before she died."

Another kick. "You played with her enough."

"Yes, but she had such a ready body to do things with. She screamed very nicely and she was pretty when she was bleeding."

A third kick, this time to the face. "You bastard!" he screamed.

Once the man was done choking on his teeth and blood, he smirked at Keller. "I told you I would one day take away what you loved most. She had such a sweet and willing body... and what a wonderful mouth."

That would be Becker putting a round in Conroy's shoulder.

Keller was only dimly aware of Danny and Becker there as he kept kicking Conroy, over and over. And he was only dimly aware of someone screaming in wordless rage, only to realize at some point that it was him.

Becker finally grabbed Keller, pulling him back. "Her body, Kell. We need him to tell us where she is so we can bring her home."

Keller snarled as Becker grabbed him, but part of him knew the logic of it. "Where is she, Conroy?" he snapped. "Tell me."

Conroy laughed at him. "I took care of her very nicely, Keller."

"Tell me or I'm kicking the shit out of you again."

"You kill me and you'll never find her," his eyes were hard, determined to be the victor even in the condition he was in.

Keller managed to get one more kick in before Becker pulled him back out of reach. "Damn it, Conroy, tell me!" His voice shook.

That was when madness seeped into Conroy's eyes and he smiled triumphantly at Keller. "I buried her."

Keller lunged for him again but was stopped by Becker's still holding him firmly in place. "Tell me where!"

"Where she will always be looked after like she looked after him when he came back." Conroy smiled at Keller, even as awareness was starting to fade from his eyes. "She's probably out of air by now."

"You bastard!" Keller was sobbing now, not caring that it told Conroy he'd won.

"Checkmate," Conroy muttered as his eyes rolled up.

"What did he mean?" Keller muttered to himself. "What did he mean by that?"

Danny looked from the dead man to Keller and Becker. "Tell me that the bastard didn't just inform us that he buried Abby while she was still _alive_!" He kicked the body. "Because I'm pretty sure that's what just happened."

Keller processed those words a little slowly. "Goddamn it!"

"Connor or Jenny might know what he meant," Becker said quietly. "They've been with the team longer -- Connor as long as Abby." Not that he wanted to have to tell their friends that the bad guy was dead -- but had still possibly caused Abby's death in a more horrible fashion than anything they had imagined.

"Then let's go ask Connor," Keller said, a wild, less than sane look in his eyes.

Becker squeezed Keller's shoulder, but there was nothing that he could say to make the other man feel better right now. All he could do was be there and make sure they didn't lose him, too. Abby would never forgive them if Keller went too far to be pulled back.

 

Connor looked up as they entered the flat. "What happened?" he asked anxiously. "Did we find anything?"

"We found Conroy," Danny said. "And he told us something."

"Well?" Connor demanded. "What did he say?"

"That he buried her." Danny, in a surprisingly diplomatic move, was leaving out the part where Keller had kicked the ever-loving shit out of Conroy. That part could come out later.

Connor swore. "Where?"

"We don't know," Becker said. "He didn't tell us that, just gave us a clue about where she's at."

Connor looked at the three men, saw the suppressed fear on Becker's and Danny's faces and the disturbing lack of sanity on Keller's. "There's something you're not telling me."

Becker was glad for Jenny and Sarah being a little further behind them at the moment as he said, "Conroy's dead."

"Well, that's good, but it doesn't help us find Abby," Connor replied.

"It does because we managed to get a clue out of him first," Becker pointed out. "Unfortunately, we don't _get_ it. But you might."

Connor looked at them. "What is it?"

"He said she's buried 'where she will always be looked after like she looked after him when he came back,' whatever that means," Becker said.

Connor frowned. "Hm." He tilted his head and looked at them. "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?" he asked after a moment.

And that, of course, was when Jenny and Sarah came back into the flat. "Who's not telling you what?" Jenny asked, a little suspiciously.

Becker sighed. "I only wanted to have to say this once," he said. "So it's good we're all here now. Conroy's dead. We took care of him."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Sarah asked.

"Yes and no," Becker said. "Yes, because now we don't have to worry about him. No, because he buried Abby still alive and gave us a cryptic clue about where she's actually at."

"What did he say?" Jenny asked, looking at them.

"That she's buried 'where she will always be looked after like she looked after him when he came back,' but we don't know what it means."

Jenny frowned. "Tell me he died before you could finish getting information out of him and that you three weren't idiots who decided to kill him."

"We didn't realize he was so close to dying," Becker said. "He died before we could ask him what he meant." Well, it was true, just not the exact order of it.

Jenny eyed him suspiciously, almost like she knew he wasn't telling the entire truth.

"So what _does_ it mean?" Danny asked the group at large. "Connor, any ideas?"

"It depends on who the 'he' is," Connor said. "I'm trying to think of who Abby's taken care of and where, but it's..." He trailed off, realization dawning. "Guys, I think I got it."

"Well?" Danny said impatiently.

"I think it's Rex," Connor said excitedly. "If it is, she's buried in the Forest of Dean."

"It's the only lead we've got," Jenny said doubtfully. "Do we want to risk being wrong?"

"We don't really have a choice," Becker said grimly. "Every we second we waste is a second she loses."

"Then let's go," Danny said. "Let's go already."

Keller spoke for the first time since walking back into the flat. "I'm with Danny. Let's get going. We need to get to her. Or to her body." His voice shook slightly but didn't crack.

And with that, in a sudden flurry of activity, everyone was heading out the door.

 

Abby knew that something was really wrong when she opened her eyes again.

She felt incredibly cold and she was in pain.

That she was in pain wasn't a surprise. Ever since she had been grabbed by the man with a grudge against Keller, she had known nothing _but_ pain. Conroy seemed to delight in hurting her and seeing how much she could take before passing out. What was a surprise, however, was the fact that her chest was hurting and she was having a hard time breathing. It was like there was something wrapped tight around her chest that kept her from drawing a deep enough breath. When she tried, she could only gasp and her pain spiked.

That was when she remembered the most recent thing Conroy had done to her.

She ran her hands down to her chest and let out a choked cry at the fresh wave of pain -- and the fact that she could feel she was bleeding.

This wasn't good. She needed to get away from Conroy and get to a hospital. He was intent on torturing her to hurt Keller, but she was going to die before he got what he wanted. He wasn't planning on killing her -- yet -- but if she died because she couldn't make her body hold up, he wouldn't care. He would just use that as another way to cause Keller distress. She couldn't let that happen. She had to get away and get to help.

Taking a breath, Abby tried to make a list of everything that had happened and the injuries she had received so far at Conroy's hands.

The fact that she was so cold told her that she had lost a great deal of blood and that her body was probably going into shock. She had to find a way to get warm and not let her body shut down on her. If she shut down, she didn't know how she was going to escape and get back to her loved ones; back to Keller. She could do this. She had already managed to contact Keller once due to Conroy's mistakes. She had been able to give Keller the identity of who had taken her. She could get some kind of message to him again. She just had to stay calm and think.

Her hands didn't seem to be tied up any longer, and that was worrying. That meant he had come up with some other kind of restraint for her. So what had he done to keep her in the one spot that he wanted her to be in? She lifted up her hands quickly, and then gasped at the pain that went through her hands as she connected with something rough and heavy. She pushed up and felt a flat piece of wood right above her head. She couldn't feel anything beneath her legs, but she discovered that the same wood was at the back of her head, as well. She raised her fists up fast and hard, feeling skin scrape off of her knuckles as she continued to try to punch at the wood above her.

Not that there was enough room to make a good punch, but she tried to put as much force behind her blows as she could. It didn't take her long to get tired and drop her hands back to her sides.

Okay, Conroy had hidden her in a very small wooden box. But for what reason, she couldn't figure out. The team must have been getting too close to where they were and he wanted to hide her. She tried to lift her head and then quickly let it fall back when moving it hurt. That was when she smelled dirt seeping into the cracks of the box. She was in a cramped box, cold, bleeding, with something in her system that was making it harder to think or to breathe. She must have been drugged to make it easier for him to deal with her, and with the smell of dirt surrounding her that meant...

 _Oh god._

The sick bastard had put her into a makeshift coffin and had buried her alive.

"Keller!" she screamed, and tears filled her eyes as she realized that whatever drug was in her system or the pain her body was feeling was keeping her from making her voice be heard as much as she wanted it to. Her scream was more of a strangled cry than anything else, but she tried again. "Keller!"

Things had gone from bad to worse. She was buried alive, weak, drugged, dying and with no possible way of yelling for help.

Tears slipped down her face. Was this really the way she was going to die? In shock from too much blood loss and from too much of her body breaking down under the torture that had been inflicted on her since a madman had grabbed her?

That was when she heard a voice coming from somewhere within the confines of her coffin.

"He'll never find you sweet Abby. But I have to say that I know now what he sees in you. You love it rough and your mouth... I don't think I'm ever been so excited about fighting for a blow job. It was worth it, though. I do wish I had thought to film that, actually. I'm sure that receiving that would have made him twist just a little more -- his lovely girl ruined forever. You know, even if he had been able to solve the puzzle and save you, that would have been the end of the two of you. He should thank me for the way this is turning out, really. So should you, to be honest. You’ll be gone and won’t have to deal with the pain of your soldier boy discarding you."

Abby felt sick at his words, and she closed her eyes to block out the images of what had happened. She didn't want to think about how hard she had fought against what he had been doing -- only to lose in the end.

“Keller would never turn away from me because of something you had done to me, you twisted bastard. He’s not like that. He loves me and that’s not something you can destroy with your pathetic attempt at mind games.”

There was the sound of something slapping down hard on a board, but didn't seem to shake the coffin. That meant what she was hearing wasn't right above her head, but that he could still hear her. She started moving her hands, looking for a tube or something that Conroy was using to communicate with her. She couldn't move very well in the cramped confines, and then she heard that hated voice came again.

"I gave him clues, you know. Either he's just that stupid, or you don't mean as much to him as we thought you did. And now, my dear, you've made the irritating decision to start dying on me, and so I guess that brings your part of the game to an end. That's unfortunate, because I had hoped that you would hold out so much longer, as there were so many more things I wanted to do to you. Hurting you did cause such agony on our poor soldier, and I wish I could have seen his face each time he received a piece of you. No matter, though, I still get the last move on him. See, you're twenty feet underground, my lovely toy. Most graves are only six to eight feet deep, you know. When they hit eight feet and don't find you, they'll give up on trying to locate your body. I know the morphine that is in your blood is going to knock you out soon, so you won't be able to call for help. Not that anyone would be able to hear you, anyway." There was a harsh laugh and it grated on Abby's nerves. "Keller will spend the rest of his life knowing that he's responsible for your death and having no idea where you are. That will haunt him more than anything. After all, he did always pride himself in being able to bring home every man under his command, no matter what their condition. This is the perfect punishment for the bastard. Enjoy your sleep, my sweet."

The voice ended and Abby felt the desolation sweep though her as she realized she was completely alone. She tried to call for help, but the drugs were making it very hard to focus and keep her eyes open.

Keller and her friends thought she was already dead.

She was going to die in this box. She was going to die in this box and Keller would never find her.

It was that last thought that caused tears to start slipping from her eyes again.

 _Keller._

Keller would never know what had happened to her and he would never be able to deal with the fact that she had disappeared. When he couldn't find her, he would break. She knew that about the man she loved. He was strong and he was one of the toughest people she had ever met -- but he loved her very deeply. She was his Achilles Heel, the perfect weapon to use against him. Having her die would be bad enough for him, and that knowledge of his pain broke her inside. However, when Keller couldn't find her body, that would do something worse than hurt him. He would go a little crazy and she didn't know if their friends would be able to stop that fall.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lieutenant Keller Darrow thought that creature incursions and the occasional insane scientist were going to be the worst things he'd need to deal with after he and Abby Maitland fell in love and started dating. However, when Abby is kidnapped by someone from Keller's past, he has to confront things he'd kept hidden from everyone close to him in order to find Abby in time. Meanwhile, in the clutches of vengeful mad man, Abby has to pull on every trick she knows to guarantee her survival. However, when the unthinkable happens, how is Keller going to deal with this while at the same time making sure his past doesn't threaten anyone ever again?

It'd been a hard fight for Keller to avoid going into shock from all the fear and worry he was feeling, but it was a fight he'd been determined to win.

Unfortunately, as they reached the Forest of Dean, it was a fight he was starting to lose.

"Stay with me, Kell," Becker snapped as they got out of the truck. "Stay with me."

"I'm trying, Becker. I'm trying, damn it."

"Try harder," Becker snapped, making it an order. "We'll find her."

Keller took a deep breath, pulling everything he could into trying to push past the shock. "Okay."

Becker nodded, then looked at Connor. "Well, any idea where we go from here? This place isn't exactly small, Connor."

"Give me a moment," Connor snapped back at him. "It's been a few years and it's not like there was a bright red flag and a sign that said 'Anomaly Here'."

"Abby is running out of time, Connor," Jenny said evenly.

"Bloody hell, I know that! You people seem to keep forgetting that she's my best mate and I want her back as much as anyone but I can't think if you're all yelling at me and reminding me that she's practically dead!"

Sarah winced. "Connor," her voice was gentle. "Talk us through what happened that night when you guys were at that first anomaly site."

Connor rambled through an explanation of everything until something occurred to him. "We're actually not that far, I think," he said before taking off at a sudden run. Things hadn't looked familiar, but as he moved they started looking a little more on the right side of familiar.

"Right here!" he said when he finally came to a skidding stop. "It's right here, I _know_ it."

"Are you _sure_ , Connor?" Jenny asked as they looked around for any signs of disturbed ground.

"As sure as I can be."

"Get the dogs in here," Danny ordered his friend from the constable's office. "If she's here, no matter how good the bastard was, they'll find her."

Keller turned in a slow circle, looking for any sign of Conroy's having been present or Abby's being in the ground.

Two of the dogs started growling between two distinct trees and one laid down quite decisively as he and his partner continued to growl.

"Here!" one of the handlers shouted. "The dogs say she's here!"

Everything in Keller was telling him to move closer, except for that little voice of rationality that he still had in his head telling him to stay out of the way and let the professionals work. He settled for moving a little closer but still staying away from the trees where the dogs were indicating the presence of something.

"They'll get her up, mate," Connor said quietly from where he'd moved to Keller's side. "They'll dig her up and she'll be alive and you'll have her back."

Keller nodded slightly, sharply; he hated that the others kept having to reassure him. He should be stronger than he was at the moment. Abby deserved that much from him, if nothing else.

Almost as though he could tell Keller's thoughts, Connor punched him lightly in the arm to get his attention. "Listen to me," he said quietly. "You've done everything you could for her, mate, and if you don't stop feeling down about it, I'll... I'll tell her you've been beating yourself up over this."

"That's playing dirty," Keller accused. Connor's words had had their desired effect, though; he was already focusing a little more -- or at least trying to.

"Yep." Connor grinned as cheerfully as he could manage at the moment, which wasn't very.

Keller stood back, letting people work as they started digging where the dogs had indicated. It wouldn't be much longer before he had his Abby back. Oh, yes, she was going to be badly hurt, but still. He'd have her back and that was the important thing. Injuries could be healed, after all.

When they brought the backhoe in, Keller shifted from worried to terrified for Abby. He leashed it as best he could, though, and stayed out of the way -- after all, there was nothing he could do at the moment. When someone yelled for him, he'd be there. Until then, he was out of the way.

When they hit six feet and had nothing, Keller wasn't worried yet.

When they hit eight feet and had nothing, _that_ was when he started worrying. Not that they were in the wrong spot, because he trusted Connor's judgement. But that Conroy had been twisted enough to bury Abby down deep, so deep that they wouldn't get to her in time.

His suspicions had been right; they didn't find anything until they hit twenty feet. By that point, the team had gathered in a tight huddle and were clinging to each other.

"We got something!" someone yelled.

There was a flurry of activity as the coffin was brought up; Connor grabbed Keller's arm to keep him from moving forward. "Let them work, mate."

Keller hated to admit Connor was right; he shook the other man's hand off and moved forward until he could see Abby.

That might have been a mistake.

Her lip was split and bloody, there was tubing in an arm, the bruises on her face and neck stood out as fresh, her chest was a bloody mess, and her leg looked like she'd been stabbed. All in all, she looked like hell.

Keller was frozen in place at the sight, was still frozen in place as someone began CPR while Danny moved forward, issuing orders for paramedics to be called. He'd tried telling himself that everything was going to be okay once they had Abby out of the ground, but now that he saw her he knew that things were anything _but_ okay.

All he could do was hope. All he could do was pray.

Except he'd never been the praying sort.

 

As soon as it was confirmed that it was Abby in the box they were bringing up, Jenny had snapped open her phone.

"James? We've found her. She's not in good shape so I don't know what's going to happen, but she's being taken to the A&E at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital." She paused for a moment, listening to Lester on the other end. "Yes, James, it really is that bad. She's unconscious and they've just managed to get a pulse." She nodded. "Yes, we'll meet you there, of course."

Jenny closed her phone and went to stand with the rest if the team as they watched their friend being worked on. When the helicopter arrived she looked at Becker and Keller. "Keller, go with Becker. I'll ride in the helicopter with Abby. You're in no condition to be in an enclosed space with those guys."

Keller started to protest but Becker put his hand on his shoulder. "She's right, Kell. You saw her condition. If anything goes wrong during the flight, you won't be able to handle it calmly. Let Jenny go with her and we'll go in the truck. We'll leave now and using the lights and sirens will get there almost at the same time they do."

"No," Keller said, without much real protest in his voice. "I should be with her. I owe her that much."

"What you owe her is being at the hospital when she wakes up without being arrested because you couldn't control yourself with the medics in the helicopter," Jenny snapped. "Go with Becker, Keller."

He gave her a glare without any heat. "Fine."

Jenny nodded. "I'll see you there." She eyed Becker and then turned to go back to where the medics where carefully loading Abby into the helicopter.

Keller looked to Becker tiredly. "Let's go, then."

"She's in good hands, Kell," Becker said comfortingly as they hurried to his truck. "She'll come through this."

"She has to," Keller said softly. "I need her."

"She's tough and she loves you."

"And wouldn't be hurting if not for me." Keller sighed. "Because if she didn't know me, she wouldn't have been the one to get grabbed. Yeah, it might've been someone else, then, but... it wouldn't be her."

"You don't know that and talking like this isn't going to do her a bit of good," Becker said as he started the truck.

"No, but it's either talk like this or break down into a sobbing mess. Neither's exactly preferable." Keller quirked his lips.

"You can do that after she's awake and able to hold you when you do so."

"I won't make her be the strong one."

"No, you won't, but right now, she needs you to be the strong one, Keller. I know that you've kept yourself pulled together this whole time, but she needs you to do so just a little longer." Becker kept his eyes on the road. "You can break down until we get there and I won't think differently about you, because God, I would, too. But when we get there, you have to have yourself back in control because she's going to need to see that you're still in one piece. We know her and we saw that video. She was worried about you."

Keller buried his face in his hands and wept, shaking despite his attempts to hold himself together. He was tired of holding it together because he _couldn't_ hold it together anymore. He wasn't even sure he'd be able to pull it together for Abby.

Becker hated this. He hated not being able to do anything to help his best friend or the girl who was like his sister. He wanted to make everything better and there was nothing he could fix this time.

Keller was in tears the entire rest of the ride; he didn't start pulling himself together until they reached the hospital. "They're going to know I fell apart.'

"No one will have anything bad to say about that," Becker said. "We all know how much you love Abby."

"She's my world, Becker."

"You're hers, too. Don't ever doubt that."

"I don't."

Becker parked the truck as close to the hospital as he could. "Then let's go and find out about your girl."

Keller just wiped away the last of his tears and nodded.

Becker nodded in return and headed to the doors.

Keller followed after him, taking slow deep breaths as he walked.

They were directed to the A&E and found their Jenny in the waiting room with Lester. The others hadn't gotten there, yet. Becker and Keller had gotten a head start. Jenny looked up from where she was talking to Lester when the two men arrived.

"Heard anything yet?" Keller asked quietly.

Jenny shook her head. "She... she was taken immediately into surgery when the helicopter landed."

Becker saw the look Lester gave her and wondered about it. There was something that Jenny wasn't saying.

Keller just nodded. The adrenaline high was starting to wear off and leave him exhausted, but he wasn't going to relax until he knew that Abby was going to be all right.

"They said that they'd let us know as soon they knew something."

"She lost a great deal of blood, Keller," Lester said calmly. "And she was drugged."

"Oh, God," was all Keller could manage.

"They think it was morphine," Jenny said softly. "It was apparently to slow her down and so that she couldn't scream or fight."

"Makes sense," Keller said. "That he'd use morphine, I mean."

"She's allergic to morphine," Becker said, his hands clenching into fists.

Jenny nodded reluctantly. "It caused her heart and lungs to stop functioning correctly. That's what caused her heart to stop, not the knife you saw on the video. The knife did a lot of surface damage to make it look like he'd killed her. It didn't touch her heart or her lungs."

"Thank God for that," Keller said, trying for optimism and failing.

"The morphine stopped Abby's heart and lungs while she was in the ground," Jenny said as gently as she could. "The medics aren't sure how long she was like that before they did resuscitation."

"Oh, God." Keller went pale.

"They got her heart and lungs to work again, Keller," Lester pointed out.

"But there still could be problems. Damage." Not that he cared. Whatever happened, he'd be there for her.

"She lost a lot of blood, Keller," Jenny said. "There was a tube in her arm and several cuts on her arms, legs and her neck. We think that those cuts are how he got the blood into that hourglass that he sent to you. The blood was matched to Abby." She swallowed. "There is a deep stab wound in her right leg. I'm betting that she got that wound when he called the first time to ask if you wanted to hear from her. That's what caused that scream."

Keller bit the inside of his cheek. "What're her odds?"

"They won't know until she's out of surgery. If she comes through surgery and doesn't go into a coma... her odds should be good."

"Then it looks like I just started praying." Because for that? He would start.

"That's all we know until she comes out of surgery and the doctors talk to us." Jenny's voice was subdued. "I believe she'll pull through, Keller, but there is a chance that there could be permanent damage. We just don't know."

"If there is, I don't care. I'm there for her no matter what."

"I would never suggest otherwise."

"I love her. And I meant it when I said she's the first woman I could see myself marrying. I _want_ to marry her someday. That's not going to change if she's got some damage."

"I know you do, Keller. I'm just telling you the things I was able to see from her body and what the medics were talking about on the helicopter."

"You were right," he said quietly. "I wouldn't have been able to handle being in the helicopter."

"That's why you needed to go with Becker," Jenny's voice was gentle.

"Thank you for making me."

"You're welcome. Besides, Becker needed you, too."

Keller frowned slightly, confused. "Oh?"

"You're not the only one having a hard time keeping yourself pulled together," Becker muttered, looking away.

In that instant, Keller felt like a heel. "Shit, I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. She's your girlfriend."

"But she's like a sister to you. I should be worrying more about how you're holding up and less about myself." At any rate, blaming himself for this distracted him from everything else.

"Kell, it's fine."

"Even so."

Becker waved his hand, a clear indication that he wanted this line of conversation to stop. He was about to ask Jenny another question when the other three of their team showed up.

Keller raked his fingers through his hair, leaving it even messier than usual. He didn't know what to say now, what to do, but even with all that he still couldn't help feeling a slight bit of optimism. They'd gotten to Abby in time to get her to help, after all. That had to count for something in his head.

"How is Abby?" Sarah asked as they all gathered.

"In surgery," Jenny explained. "The doctors said that she could be there for awhile. The damage done was extensive."

Connor paled slightly at that. "We're all staying 'til she's out, though, right?"

"Of course we are," Sarah responded. "We've come this far with her."

"Before anybody says it, no, I am not leaving at any point," Keller said.

"No one would try to make you," Danny shook his head. "We'd have to sedate you, first."

That got the first laugh in days from Keller, even if it wasn't a very strong one. "Yes. Yes, you would."

"How bad is it, Jen?" Danny was wasting no time in getting the facts.

"It's bad," Jenny said succinctly.

"Her heart stopped," Lester supplied, not looking at them. "The medics on scene revived her but they don't know how long she was unresponsive before she was found."

Connor swore quietly, uncharacteristically.

Sarah looked startled at Connor's curse and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But she's alive now, right?"

"She is."

"So there's hope," Connor said. Abby was his best mate, he couldn't lose her.

Becker nodded. "We won't lose her, Connor."

"We can't," Connor said. "We need her. We all need her."

Danny didn't say anything. He was trying to focus on staying pulled together until they knew what was going on.

"If I get to fall apart, so do you," Keller said quietly to Danny. "And I've already had my turn."

"Not until we know what's going on with her." Danny's tone was firm. "I failed her once and I won't do it again."

Keller just smiled sadly and nodded.

"Don't go there, Keller. She's your girl."

"And I fell apart. If anything, I'm the one who's supposed to stay strong for her."

"You did, though," Connor said. "You were strong when it counted. When we needed you to help us figure everything out."

"He's right, Keller," Sarah said gently.

Keller nodded slightly. "I know."

Jenny turned as two doctors approached them.

"Are any of you here for Abby Maitland?"

"We all are," Keller said.

One of the doctor's nodded. "Who is in charge?"

"That would be me," Lester said. "What is Abby's condition?"

Keller looked to the doctors worriedly, trying to stay calm but knowing his worry showed on his face anyway.

"I'm sorry to say that Miss Maitland has slipped into a coma," the first doctor said gently. "We're not surprised, given the amount of trauma that her body had sustained."

"Oh God," Keller said quietly, more to himself than anything.

"Her vital signs are good," the second doctor continued. "We did manage to repair some of the damage done to her chest. The knife missed all of her vital organs."

Keller nodded slightly.

"There is muscle damage to her right leg. The person who inflicted the wound apparently stabbed her and then twisted the knife to inflict maximum damage." The first doctor cleared his throat. "There is no way to repair all of it, so if she survives, she will always walk with a limp."

Keller didn't care about that, he'd love Abby no matter what the lasting damage was. But he didn't know how to react to the doctor's saying "if" she survived.

"There is no _if_ , doctor," Lester said in a tight voice. "She will survive."

"She's a fighter," Keller said. "She'll make it."

"She's being moved to a room and we'll be keeping a constant watch on her."

"When will I be able to sit with her?" Keller asked. He'd stay out of the way, but he needed to be there with her.

"One of the nurses will take you to her as soon as she's settled in."

There was no mistaking the relief on his face.

"How long before she comes out of the coma?" Danny's voice was strained.

"There's no way for us to estimate if or when she will."

Keller was already mentally making plans for a leave of absence if necessary. He'd be by Abby's side every day until she came out of it.

Danny pinned the doctor with a look. "She will."

"Sir, the damage that was done to her body was incredibly extensive. "

"She's a fighter, though." Keller's voice was low and fierce.

"You need to be prepared for the possibility that her injuries could still prove fatal," the first doctor said reasonably.

"Being prepared for that doesn't mean not hoping for the best," Keller said.

"The bastard that did this to her is not going to win by her dying. She would never stand for that," Connor said angrily.

Keller nodded in silent agreement.

"You'll be taken to her room shortly, but you can't all be there at the same time."

"Keller goes first," Connor said instantly.

Becker and Danny agreed. "She's his girlfriend. She needs him there when wakes up."

Keller was glad they'd agreed so readily; he wasn't sure he had the energy to fight them on it.

"She's being moved to another room and someone will be down to get you when all of her monitors are hooked up."

"Thank you," Keller said with a nod.

"We'll be keeping a close eye on her and her vital signs."

"Understood."

"If she stops breathing or her heart stops beating, an alarm will alert us -- and it is likely to happen."

"Okay." Keller was scared by that, but it was a fear he could manage.

"We'll do our best to keep you informed and apprised of any changes in Miss Maitland's condition."

"Thank you, Doctor."

The group was very subdued when the nurse came to take them to see where Abby's room was.

Keller had been prepared for things to be bad, but when he walked into the room and saw Abby, he couldn't help gasping. The bruises on her face were even worse, having deepened further in just a few hours. The oxygen mask gave her an odd air of vulnerability, he noted as he moved to sit in the chair next to her bed.

There were bandages wrapped around her arm and her right leg -- which was elevated in traction to keep it from being moved. There were three bags on her IV tree. One was assumed to be medications, one was liquid nutrients her body needed, and the third one was blood.

"Oh, baby girl," Keller said softly. "Baby girl, I'm so sorry." He reached out to take her hand in his cautiously.

The nurse with him had a kind face and showed him what everything was. Lastly, she handed him a small box that was connected to a speaker. "If you need anything, press the green button to talk to a nurse. The red button means that there's an emergency and we're needed immediately."

 

Hours turned into days and days turned into more than a week, but still, Keller didn't leave Abby's side unless he absolutely couldn't avoid it. Even then, though, Abby wasn't left alone. Someone was always with her; their team -- including Lester -- took turns sitting with her, and by extension, with Keller, too.

It had been thirteen days since Abby was taken and nine days since she slipped into the coma while in surgery. While the doctors couldn't offer them much hope beyond telling them that her condition hadn't worsened, for the family from the ARC, that was enough to keep a firm grasp on their hope.

The evening of day fourteen of the bedside vigil found Keller sitting alone by Abby's bedside. The others had been in and out during the day, but right now he was alone with her. That was all right with him because it meant he could just talk to Abby and not worry about anyone else in the room.

He held one of her hands gently between his two, and his chair was as close to the bed as he could pull it. He wanted to be up on the bed, holding her close to his body and being a shield for her against everything that might hurt her, but that wasn't possible. Her condition was too fragile and he didn't want to jostle the instruments that were taking care of her in any way.

So he settled for holding her least damaged hand -- the one without the IVs running into it -- and talked to her about anything he could think of -- including their future.

"You have to come out of it," Keller said softly, squeezing her hand carefully. "I can't propose if you don't." He'd do it when the time was right, of course, not immediately. But she still needed to be healthy and healed and awake.

The machines seemed to be the only other sounds in the hospital room. The heart monitor beeped every few seconds and the oxygen machine continued to breathe air into Abby's lungs.

"I took a leave of absence, you know," he said. "I wanted to be here for you. And if... if the worst happened, I wanted to be with you when it happened." Because he didn't want her to die -- and he knew that was still a real possibility -- but if it happened, he wanted to at least give her his presence when it did.

There was a small change in the rhythm of the oxygen machine for the barest of seconds, and then it slipped back into the pattern that had been the normal for almost two weeks.

"I took two weeks," he continued. "Lester said we'd reevaluate after that. So I've only got a couple more days before I figure out how to tell him I need more time."

There was an almost imperceptible movement from the hand that he was holding. The heart monitor beeped again, but nothing else seemed any different than he was used to since he started this vigil.

"And I _am_ going to take more time," Keller said. "I'm not leaving you while you're like this. I couldn't save you in time to keep you from being hurt -- " His voice broke on that. " -- but I can sit with you while you heal."

This time the movement against his hand was a little more perceivable, but it was still no stronger than that of a butterfly trying to move. However, the heart monitor beeped twice in rapid succession. Something was happening, even if it was too soon to tell what was going on.

He glanced up briefly at the beep. "That's it, baby girl," he whispered. "Come back to me. You have to come back to me. I'm not the same without you."

The heart monitor stuttered, the beeps coming faster together. The oxygen machine didn't change, but something did. The lips beneath the mask were trying to move.

Or at least it could have seemed that way.

Keller wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not. It could be something happening, but it could just as easily be wishful thinking.

The whisper of sound that came from beneath the mask couldn't be made out, but it was obvious something was trying to be said.

Keller looked at her. "Abby?" he ventured cautiously.

"Keller..." It was definitely Abby trying to speak, even if her voice was almost inaudible. "Keller...?"

He could barely hear her voice, but he could figure out well enough what she was trying to say. "Ssh, love, I'm right here."

The alarms on her monitors started beeping. Her eyes hadn't opened, but her eyelids were flickering.

Keller knew the alarms would bring her doctors, so he just sat there, holding her hand quietly.

The room was quickly filled with doctors and nurses, and Abby's head nurse gently touched Keller's arm.

"Sweetie, you need to wait out in the hall while we check everything out with her. I promise, she's in good hands and if she needs you, I'll come get you myself."

"You damn well better," he said, giving her a look before reluctantly rising and heading for the hallway.

In the hallway, Keller was greeted by his friends who had come running when they heard the alarms and the call for the doctors to come to the room.

"Keller," Sarah asked breathlessly. "Keller, what's happened?" There was worry etched on her face and fear in her eyes.

"She woke up," Keller said, raking one hand through his hair nervously.

"What?" Jenny gave the first smile that anyone had seen in the past few weeks. "She's awake? When?"

"Just now," Keller replied. "She was starting to come out of it."

Becker squeezed his shoulder. "I told you that you wouldn't lose her."

"I should've listened to you."

It was about twenty minutes before the doctor and nurses came out of Abby's room.

"Lieutenant Darrow," the doctor said softly. "It looks as if Miss Maitland has come out of her coma."

"Thank God," Keller said, relief clear on his features.

The doctor gave everyone a tired smile and then looked back at Keller. "She still has a long way to go in healing and it's going to take a great deal of work on her part -- and on the parts of those who care about her, too. But, she's come out of her coma and that gives her a better chance of survival."

"Thank God for that, too." Keller was relieved for anything that meant he was less likely to lose the woman he loved.

"She's sleeping now, so that's a good sign. We still have her on oxygen as a precautionary measure until we know what kind of damage the morphine might have done to her lungs."

"Can I sit with her? I won't wake her up, I promise." He couldn't bring himself to leave her just yet.

The doctor nodded. "I don't see why not. I'm sure that it will make all of you feel better if someone is with her now that you know she will wake up."

Keller smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Doctor."

The doctor nodded and then he was walking down the hall with Jenny and Lester.

Becker nudged Keller's shoulder. "Go on. We're going to go get some real food now that it's safe to do so." Because none of them had eaten much in the past several days.

"Bring me back something, dammit." Which right there was a clear sign he was already doing better. He hadn't wanted to eat much while Abby was in the coma.

"We will," Becker promised, giving him a tired smile before herding the others down the hall.

Keller went back into Abby's room and took up the seat he'd been in before.

There was nothing but the sounds of the machines in the room, but then Abby's hand started moving slowly against the blanket. It was almost like she was searching.

"It's all right," he soothed, reaching out to take her hand in his. "I'm here, love."

Her hand squeezed his in response. The clasp was weak, but it was there.

Tears welled up in his eyes again, but this time they were optimistic ones. At least now she stood a chance.

"Keller. Keller?" Again, her voice was barely a whisper, but this time her eyes were partially open as she turned her head with some effort in his direction.

"Don't move, love," he said gently. "I'm right here."

"You're safe."

"I am. And so are you."

She swallowed and it was obviously painful for her to try to speak. "Conroy?"

"Dead."

"Good." She closed her eyes and then opened them a crack again. "Painful?"

"Probably. I did pretty much kick him to death, after all."

"Better." She swallowed and her forehead creased with pain. "Mine?"

"Am I yours? Of course."

That seemed to make her feel a lot more secure, because she let her eyes drift close again. However, she did try to squeeze his hand a little tighter. It didn't work, but the attempt was obvious.

"He said you'd leave me if I lived. Called him delusional. Hit me. But I knew." Every word was a struggle for Abby to get out -- both from pain and from the pain killers that the IV was sending into her system so she could rest.

"I would never leave you."

A different kind of pain moved across her face. "Hurts, Kell."

"I know, baby girl. I know."

"Where are we?" Talking was becoming more difficult for her.

"Gloucestershire Royal Hospital."

"Safe? Everyone?"

"Everyone's safe," he promised.

She tried to nod, but stopped because that just caused everything to spin around her.

"Don't move," he said softly. "It's probably not a good idea."

"Feel strange."

"That's probably the painkillers they've got you on."

"Don't leave me?" Her whisper was starting to slur.

"I won't. Can't hold you, but I'll stay with you."

"I love you."

"I love you, too." He squeezed her hand gently.

She tried to squeeze his hand back, but she was already in a deep sleep from the medication pushed into her system.

Keller just smiled, bringing her hand up to his lips and carefully kissing the back of it before resting his forehead against it. It'd been two weeks of hell, but those two weeks were finally over. Abby was safe and on the road to recovery; his world was complete once more.


End file.
